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This paper aims to evaluate the influence of relative social standing, society’s level of restrictions and consumption adequacy on life satisfaction as well as to examine the moderating effect that an environment of social deprivations can cause in this relationship.

The analysis uses data from 23,152 individuals distributed in 272 regions of 18 developing countries collected from the World Values Survey (WVS). Given the hierarchical structure nature of the data in a cross-country setting, the paper utilizes a multilevel linear mixed-effects model with cross-level interaction.

The results show that social deprivation, perception of inadequate consumption and lower social standing negatively affect life satisfaction. Likewise, social comparison and consumption adequacy are moderated by the level of social deprivation, showing that the effect of these variables on life satisfaction is more pronounced for individuals living in regions with a higher level of deprivation than for those living in more affluent societies.

This study enhances the comprehension of well-being within contexts characterized by elevated levels of social deprivation. Furthermore, it provides evidence that objective and subjective deprivations are not independent and antithetical concepts but act mutually in reducing individual well-being.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-08-2023-0623